Control means for occupant restraint belt system

ABSTRACT

A control means for a restraint belt retractor includes a latch bolt sensor directly actuating the disabling means of the retractor and movable between actuated and unactuated positions. The sensor is normally located in unactuated position in the path of movement of the latch bolt when the latch bolt is in latched position. As the latch bolt moves to unlatched position it engages the sensor and moves it to actuated position. The sensor is connected to an operating lever of the door latch through a lost motion connection. This connection provides an operative connection to the operating lever when the sensor is in the unactuated position and provides a free wheeling connection when the sensor is in an actuated position. This permits the inside and outside operators, which operate the operating lever, to be released and to free wheel relative to the sensor when the sensor is in actuated position.

This invention relates generally to a control means for an occupantrestraint belt system and more particularly to a control means fordisabling door mounted retractors of an occupant restraint belt systemupon opening movement of the door to enable freedom of occupant egressand ingress.

Control means for disabling door mounted retractors of an occupantrestraint belt system are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,943 Augunas et al,Occupant Restraint System, and No. 3,692,328 Arlauskas et al, ControlMeans for Occupant Restraint Belt Retractor, disclose control means fortemporarily disabling a door mounted retractor when either the inside oroutside operator or door handle is actuated and for maintaining thedisablement when the door is in an open position. Temporary disablementis obtained upon actuation of the inside and outside handles. Thedisablement is maintained, even though the inside or outside handle isreleased, when the latch bolt is unlatched from the striker.

U.S. application Ser. No. 723,438 Control Means for Occupant RestraintBelt System, Espinoza et al, filed Apr. 15, 1985, discloses a controlmeans which includes a cable means for actuating the disabling means ofa door mounted restraint belt retractor. The cable means is controlledby a cable actuating lever which is operatively coupled to the operatinglever of the door either the inside or outside operator. A blockinglever is carried by a latch bolt position sensor and is biased towardblocking position with respect to the cable operating lever. The latchbolt sensor holds the blocking lever in unblocking position when thebolt is in a latched position and permits the blocking lever to move toblocking position to maintain disablement of the retractor as the boltmoves to unlatched position. Disablement of the retractor temporarilyoccurs whenever the inside or the outside operator is actuated. Thetemporary disablement is maintained only when the latch bolt is in anunlatched position.

The control means of this invention includes a latch bolt positionsensor which actuates the disabling means of the retractor. The sensoris located in an unactuated position in the path of movement of thelatch bolt when the latch bolt is in a latched position. The sensor isconnected to the inside and outside operators through a lost motionconnection. The lost motion connection connects the sensor to each ofthe operators when the sensor is in the unactuated position so thatoperation of either of the operators temporarily moves the sensor to anactuated position wherein the sensor actuates the disabling means of theretractor. Should operation of the operator release the latch bolt formovement toward unlatched position, the latch bolt will maintain thesensor in actuated position to maintain actuation of the disabling meansof the retractor. When the sensor is in the actuated position, the lostmotion connection provides free wheeling between the sensor and each ofthe operators.

Thus, upon release of the latch bolt by operation of either of theoperators, the retractor is temporarily disabled through movement of thesensor to actuated position. This disablement is maintained, even if theoperator is released, by movement of the latch bolt toward an unlatchedposition.

One feature of this invention is that it provides an improved controlmeans for an occupant restraint belt system which includes a movablelatch bolt sensor actuating the disabling means of the retractor uponmovement of the sensor by either the inside or outside operator with thesensor being connected to or free wheeling relative to the inside andoutside operators in accordance with the position of the latch bolt ofthe door latch. Another feature is that a lost motion connection isprovided between the sensor and the inside and outside operators, withthe lost motion connection being operative when the latch bolt sensor isin an unactuated position and the latch bolt is in a latched positionand being free wheeling when the latch bolt sensor is in an actuatedposition and the latch bolt is in an unlatched position.

These and other features will be readily apparent from the followingspecification and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicle door latch andcontrol means according to this invention with the latch bolt of thedoor latch being in unlatched position.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken away view of the door latch of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view of the assembled door latch and control means of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a view with the latch bolt in latched position.

The vehicle door latch 10 shown in FIGS. 1 through 5 of the drawings issubstantially the same as a latch which has been widely used in presentand previous production vehicles manufactured by the Assignee of thisinvention. In view of the widespread use of the latch, the detailsthereof are well known and therefore only a brief description of theoperating components will be given.

The latch 10 includes a frame 12 having an integral side wall or flange14, with the frame and side wall being apertured at 16 to provide forentrance and exit of a headed striker pin, not shown. The striker pin ismounted on the vehicle lock pillar. A plastic coated fork type bolt 18is pivoted at 20 to the frame 12. The bolt is shown in the unlatchedposition in FIGS. 1 through 4 and in the latched position in FIG. 5. Adetent 22 is pivoted at 24, FIG. 2, to the frame 12 and includes a footor shoulder 26 which is engageable with either a shoulder 28 or ashoulder 30 of the bolt 18 to hold the bolt respectively in eitherintermediate latched or fully latched position. A tension spring 32 ishooked between a leg 34 of the detent and the flange 14 of the frame tocontinually bias the detent 22 clockwise as viewed in FIG. 2 towardsengaged position with the bolt 18. The detent 22 is located against thebias of spring 32 by the engagement of a leg 36 thereof with a rubberbumper 38 secured to a lanced lateral tab of frame 12.

A back plate 40 is spaced from the frame 12 and includes lateral tabs 42which are staked to the frame 12 to secure the back plate thereto. Alocking lever 44 is pivoted to a pin 46 extending between frame 12 andthe back plate 40. An overcenter spring 48 is hooked between the lockinglever 44 and the back plate 40 to selectively and alternately bias thelocking lever to unlocked position, as shown, or to a locked positionclockwise of this position. The locking lever 44 is alternately locatedin each position by respective engagement of a leg 50 thereof with thelower and upper edges of a U-shaped slot provided in a lateral tab 54 ofthe back plate 40. Another leg 56 of the locking lever extends upwardlyand is trapped in a slot of an auxiliary lever 58 which is pivoted at 60to a rib reinforced flange 62 of the back plate. The lever 58 isconnected by a rod 64 to a conventional outside key cylinder to move thelocking lever between locked and unlocked positions.

An offset leg 66 of the locking lever 44 is pivoted at 68, FIG. 2, toone leg of a U-shaped intermittent member 70. This leg includes alateral tab 72 which extends through an arcuate slot 74 of an operatinglever 76 for a purpose to be described. The other leg 78 of theintermittent member extends toward flange 14 and is movable into and outof abutting relationship to the lower edge of a lateral tab 80 of thedetent 22. The operating lever 76 is pivoted at 82 to the back plate 40.The pivot 82 is coaxial with the pivot 68 when the locking lever is inunlocked position.

When the locking lever is in its unlocked position, as shown, the leg 78of the intermittent member 70 is in abutting relationship to the loweredge of the tab 80 of the detent 22, FIG. 2. The intermittent memberrotates the detent counterclockwise about its pivot 24 when theintermittent member is rotated counterclockwise about its pivot 68 bythe operating lever 76. Should the bolt 18 be in an intermediate latchedposition or a fully latched position, FIG. 5, with the foot 26 of thedetent in engagement with either shoulder 28 or 30 of the bolt,respectively, counterclockwise rotation of the detent will release thedetent foot from the engaged bolt shoulder to permit the door to beopened as the striker pin rotates the bolt to its unlatched position, asshown in FIGS. 1 to 4. The foot 26 of the detent 22 rests on the edge 84of the leading leg of bolt 18. When the door is closed, the engagementof the striker pin with this leading leg rotates the bolt tointermediate or fully latched positions wherein the striker pin istrapped in the bolt throat and the detent foot 26 engages eithershoulder 28 or shoulder 30, respectively.

Should the locking lever be in its locked position, clockwise of itsposition shown, the leg 78 of the intermittent member will move to theleft, as viewed in FIG. 2, and out of abutting relationship to the loweredge of the tab 80 so that rotation of the operating lever 76 will nothave any effect on the detent 22.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the lefthand end of the operating lever 76includes an opening which slidably receives the upper end of a pin 86,the lower shouldered end of which is staked to a tab 88 of back plate40. A coil spring 90 surrounds the pin 86 and seats between theshouldered end of the pin and the lower surface of lever 76 tocontinually bias the lever 76 clockwise about its pivot 82.

The hooked upper end of a transfer rod 92 is received in a slot 94 oflever 76, FIG. 1. The lower end of the rod 92 is bent laterally andsecured by a conventional spring clip to one offset leg 96 of a bellcrank transfer lever 98. The lever 98 is pivoted at 100 to an integrallateral ear or arm 102 of the frame 12. The other leg 104 of thetransfer lever 98 rotatably mounts a stud 106 which threadedly receivesthe lower threaded end of a rod 108. The rod 108 extends upwardly and isconnected to a conventional outside operator or door handle, not shown,which is mounted on the outer panel of a vehicle body door.

As best shown in FIG. 1, the lever 98 includes an integral narrowbendable tab 110 having a terminal lateral flange which is engageablewith an edge of the ear 102 to locate the lever 98 in a counterclockwisedirection relative to the ear.

When the lever 98 is rotated counterclockwise, FIG. 1, by the outsidehandle through downward shifting of the rod 108, the rod 92 shiftsvertically and rotates lever 76 counterclockwise about pivot 82.

An inside release handle or operator, not shown, is connected by a rod112, FIG. 1, with an inside release lever 114 which is pivoted at 116 toan offset lateral flange or ear 118 of back plate 40. The lever 114includes a lateral tab 120 which underlies a lateral tab 122 of theoperating lever 76. Rotation of the lever 114 in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 1, by the inside handle or operator rotatesthe lever 76 counterclockwise about its pivot 82.

It will be noted that rotation of the lever 76 by the rod 92 occurswithout rotation of the lever 114 and likewise rotation of the lever 76by the lever 114 occurs without any movement of the rod 92.

The foregoing is a brief description of the manner in which the basicstructure of the lock operates. A more complete description can be foundin Ser. No. 673,673, Adams et al, Vehicle Closure Latch, filed Nov. 21,1984 and assigned to the assignee of this invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3 through 5 of the drawings, the controlmeans 124 of this invention is a self-contained module which can beadded to the door latch 10 without modification of the operatingcomponents thereof.

The control means 124 includes a bracket 126 which is secured to theback plate 40 by screws 128. The bracket 126 includes a lateral leg 130and a slotted lower lateral tab 132. A sector shaped latch bolt sensor134 is pivoted at 136 to the leg 130. The sensor includes an arcuateclosed end slot 138 therethrough which receives the lower bent end of arod 140. The hook shaped upper end of the rod 140 is hooked through thelateral tab 122 of the operating lever 76 as best shown in FIGS. 4 and5.

The sensor 134 includes an extension 142 which is pivoted at 144 to aneyelet on the upper end of a cable 146. A sheath 148 surrounds the cableand has its upper end mounted to the slotted tab 132. As schematicallyshown in FIG. 1, the lower end of the cable 146 is pivoted at 149 to alever 150 which is pivoted at 152 to the frame of a conventional doormounted inertia retractor 154 for either the lap or shoulder beltportion of a conventional passive seat belt arrangement. A leaf spring156 is fixed to the pivot 152 for movement with the lever 150 as a unitwhenever the cable 146 is shifted by the sensor 134. The leaf spring 156is normally spaced from a pilot pawl 158 of the retractor 154 when thesensor 134 is in an unactuated position, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5,and resiliently bears against the pilot pawl to inhibit pivotal movementof the pilot pawl about pivot 160 when the sensor is in actuatedposition, FIG. 4. The pilot pawl 158 engages a gear wheel 162 whenpivoted clockwise by the pendulum 164 of the retractor to in turn engagethe main pawl 166 of the retractor with the reel teeth 168. Theengagement of the leaf spring 156 with the pilot pawl 158 provides acounterclockwise bias on the pilot pawl which disables clockwisemovement of the pilot pawl under the action of the pendulum. Theretractor 154 forms no part of this invention and is in currentproduction use on vehicles manufactured by the assignee of thisinvention.

When the latch bolt 18 is in latched position as shown in FIG. 5, thelatch bolt sensor 134 is located in unactuated position with a shoulder170 thereof in the path of movement of the latch bolt. The lower end ofthe rod 140 is located at the upper closed end of the arcuate slot 138as shown in FIG. 5. Movement of the operating lever 76 of the latch 10by either the outside operator or the inside operator will rotate thesensor 134 clockwise about pivot 136 from its unactuated position ofFIG. 5 to its actuated position of FIG. 4. This shifts the cable 146upwardly to engage the leaf spring 156 with the pilot pawl 158 of theretractor 154 and disable the retractor. When either the inside oroutside operator is released, the latch bolt sensor 134 returns to itsunactuated position, if latch bolt 18 is in latched position.

When the operating lever 76 is actuated by either the inside or theoutside operator and the intermittent member 70 is connected to thedetent 22, the bolt 18 is released for movement from the latchedposition shown in FIG. 5 to the unlatched position shown in FIGS. 1through 4. The latch bolt sensor 134 will be rotated by the inside oroutside operator from the unactuated position of FIG. 5 to the actuatedposition of FIG. 4 to disable retractor 154 as previously described. Asthe latch bolt moves to unlatched position, the leading outboard leg ofthe latch bolt moves past the sensor 134 to block return movement of thesensor to unactuated position and maintain the sensor in actuatedposition when the inside or outside operator is released. The latch boltwill start to block movement of the sensor to unactuated position asshoulder 28 of the latch bolt moves slightly past detent shoulder 26 andwill continue to block such movement of the sensor as the latch boltcontinues to move to unlatched position. If the inside or outsideoperator is released slightly before the leading outboard leg of thelatch bolt starts to block the sensor, the leading outboard leg of thebolt will engage the shoulder 170 of the sensor 134 and move the sensorto the unactuated position of FIG. 4 as the bolt continues to move tounlatched position and the outboard leg moves past the sensor. If theinside or outside operator is actuated and immediately released, thedetent shoulder 26 may engage shoulder 28 of the latch bolt to stopmovement of the latch bolt to unlatched position. The leading outboardleg of the bolt 18 cannot engage the shoulder 170 unless the latch boltshoulder 28 has moved past the detent shoulder 26. This ensures thatthere will be no disablement of the retractor 154 unless the latch boltis in an unlatched position.

Upon movement of the latch bolt 18 from the unlatched position of FIG. 4to the latched position of FIG. 5, the sensor 134 will remain in itsactuated position shown in FIG. 4 as the trailing outboard leg of thelatch bolt slides relative to the sensor. When the outboard leg of thelatch bolt moves past the sensor, the sensor is released from engagementtherewith and moves from its FIG. 4 actuated position to its FIG. 5unactuated position. This shifts the cable 146 downwardly to release theleaf spring 156 from engagement with the pilot pawl 158 of the retractor134. The trailing outboard leg of the latch bolt will not move past thesensor until the latch bolt has moved to a position wherein the latchbolt shoulder 28 is moving past the detent shoulder 26. Thus as soon asthe latch bolt shoulder passes the detent shoulder, the retractor 154 isoperative.

Although the latch bolt sensor 134 is shown as operating the disablingmeans of the retractor through the cable 146, it should be noted thatthe sensor 134 could likewise actuate a switch or other electricaldevice to electrically actuate a solenoid or other device which wouldengage the leaf spring 156 with the pilot pawl 158.

The control means of this invention is of very simple construction andcan be added to current production locks to accomplish its purpose in avery simple and expeditious manner.

Thus this invention provides an improved control means for a restraintbelt retractor.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a vehicle body having a door movable between open and closed positions, latch means mounted on the door for selectively holding the door in closed position or permitting movement thereof to open position and including a latch bolt movable between latched and unlatched positions, operating means for releasing the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position and including a latch operating lever releasing the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position, restraint belt retractor means mounted on the door, and disabling means operable to disable the retractor, the combination comprising, a latch bolt sensor mounted on the latch means for movement between an unactuated position when the latch bolt is in latched position and an actuated position, wherein the sensor engages the latch bolt when the latch bolt is in unlatched position, first means connecting the sensor to the disabling means for operating the disabling means upon movement of the sensor to actuated position, a connecting member, second means connecting one end of the connecting member to the latch operating lever, third means connecting the other end of the connecting member to the sensor, one of said second and third connecting means including lost motion means connecting the connecting member and one of said lever and sensor in the unactuated position of said sensor and permitting free wheeling movement of the connecting member and said one of said lever and said sensor in the actuated position of said sensor, operation of the latch operating lever releasing the latch bolt for movement from latched position to unlatched position and moving the sensor to actuated position, the lost motion means permitting cessation of operation of the latch operating lever when the sensor is in the actuated position.
 2. In a vehicle body having a door movable between open and closed positions, latch means mounted on the door for selectively holding the door in closed position or permitting movement thereof to open position and including a latch bolt movable between latched and unlatched positions, operating means for releasing the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position, restraint belt retractor means mounted on the door, and disabling means operable to disable the retractor, the combination comprising, a latch bolt sensor pivoted to the latch means for movement transverse of the latch bolt between an unactuated position when the latch bolt is in latched position and an actuated position, wherein the sensor engages the latch bolt when the latch bolt is in unlatched position, means operatively interconnecting the sensor and the disabling means for operating the disabling means upon movement of the sensor to actuated position, a connecting member, means connecting one end of the connecting member to the operating means, arcuate slot means in the sensor having at least one closed end and pivotally and slidably receiving the other end of the connecting member to provide a lost motion connection between the connecting member and the sensor, the other end of the connecting member moving into engagement with the closed end of the slot means upon operation of the operating means in the unactuated position of said sensor to (1) release the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position, and (2) move the sensor to actuated position to operate the disabling means, the other end of the connecting member moving out of engagement with the closed end of the slot upon cessation of operation of the operating means, the sensor being maintained in actuated position by engagement with the latch bolt.
 3. In a vehicle body having a door movable between open and closed positions, latch means mounted on the door for selectively holding the door in closed position or permitting movement thereof to open position and including a latch bolt pivotable between latched and unlatched positions, operating means for releasing the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position and including an operating lever, restraint belt retractor means mounted on the door, and disabling means operable to disable the retractor, the combination comprising, a latch bolt sensor pivoted to the latch means for rotation in a plane transverse of the plane of movement of the latch bolt between an unactuated position when the latch bolt is in latched position and an actuated position, wherein the sensor engages the latch bolt when the latch bolt is in unlatched position, said sensor including an arcuate slot generated about the pivot of the sensor and having at least one closed end, means interconnecting the sensor and the disabling means for operating the disabling means upon rotation of the sensor to actuated position, a connecting rod having one end thereof connected to the latch operating lever and the other end thereof received in the sensor slot, said other end of said connecting rod moving into engagement with said closed end of said slot upon operation of said operating means in the unactuated position of said sensor to (1) rotate said sensor from unactuated position to actuated position and operate said disabling means and (2) effect release of the latch bolt for movement to unlatched position wherein the latch bolt is engageable by the sensor to maintain the sensor in actuated position upon cessation of operation of the operating means. 